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DFS Family Directory - Duplicate Checker: How to run duplicate checker

How to run the duplicate checker

Duplicate Checker is available as a utility from the Family Directory Module for parishes only for users logged in as Exclusive_Admin. For security reasons, synchronizing parishes should request the Duplicate Checker password directly from their diocese. Parishes that are not synchronizing with their diocese should contact ParishSOFT support for the password at support@parishsoft.com or (866) 930-4774.

Log In

Run your Family Directory application, or click the Staff menu → Log in.

Select Exclusive Admin in the Username field.

Enter the Password provided either by ParishSOFT or by your diocese—synchronizing parishes must contact their diocese for the password.

Click OK. The Family Directory should now open.

Run Duplicate Checker

Before you can launch the Duplicate Checker, you must log in to the Family Directory Module as Exclusive_Admin. Once you are logged in, complete the following steps to run the Duplicate Checker.

Click the Utilities menu → Duplicate Checker.

The Duplicate Checker Wizard will open.

Choose one of the following options:

Search for and Resolve Duplicate Families– choose this option if you do not know what duplicate records exist in your database.

Resolve a Known Duplicate Using Family ID – choose this option if you already know the Family IDs of the duplicates in your database.

Search for Duplicate Families in the Parish

Use this procedure to choose duplicate match criteria — these are the fields that ParishSOFT will use to identify potential duplicates in your database. More selected match criteria fields (e.g., Last Name, Family First Name, and Address) will result in fewer duplicates found. Fewer selected match criteria fields (e.g., Last Name, Family First Name) will result in more duplicates found.

The most common search fields Last Name and Family First Name are selected by default as match criteria in the Desired Fields list (on the right). Other available fields are listed on the left under the header All Fields. Use the following procedure to add or remove fields from the Desired Fields list.

Double click, click-and-drag, or use the button to select the fields you wish to use to identify the duplicate families in your database. Selected fields will be placed in your Desired Fields list.To copy all fields into the Desired Fields list, click the button. To select multiple fields, use <Ctrl+Click>.

Specify filters. Filters are useful when searching for specific duplicate family records. For example, enter “Liszt” in the LastName field to find all the Liszt families who may have duplicate records.

Click the Next button. The software will analyze your database based on the specified criteria. When the analysis is complete, the Potential Duplicates have been Found! screen will open.

Review Potential Duplicates

This screen displays the results of your search for potential duplicates.

To the upper-right of your list view, the Duplicate Sets Found indicates the number of duplicate sets found.

The list view displays only the criteria that you used to search for duplicate families in the parish. Your Potential Duplicates screen may display more or fewer fields than are shown in the example below.

The Next button will be dimmed on this screen until you indicate which family duplicate sets you wish to resolve.

Merge/Resolve Families

The Merge/Resolve Families screen is for informational purposes only. It displays the details of both the Master and Duplicate family in a side-by-side format that allows for easy comparison of the data.

The number of duplicate families in this set will be displayed in the upper right hand corner of the screen next to the column header DUPLICATE Family.

Options for Cancelling

If you decide at this point that this duplicate set should NOT be merged, your options to cancel vary depending upon how you initiated the process of resolving duplicates.

If you used the Search to detect duplicate sets, there is no need to Cancel an entire group of duplicate set resolutions just because a set of families turns out not to be a true duplicate set. You will have the opportunity to exclude this family from the Merge process later. If you are resolving duplicates using known Family ID numbers, simply press Cancel to end resolution of this duplicate set.

Merge/Resolve Family Members

On the Merge/Resolve Family Members screen, the list view called Permanent Master Family Members displays the names and birth dates of the members contained in the Master family record.

Because the Master record is the primary record, all records for members in the Master family record will be maintained.

Use the following procedure to specify how to resolve each family member from the duplicate family record.

Find the first Duplicate Family Member record located in the lower left corner of the screen (e.g., Bob).

Select an option from the lookup table (under the header What to do…) to the right of the member’s name. Options include the following:

a. Add as New—no similar record exists in the Master family; create a new member record for this person.

b. Merge with [name, e.g., Bill]— a duplicate record exists for this person in the Master family; merge the duplicate record into the selected person’s record in the Master family.

If needed, repeat step 2 until each member has a What to Do designation.

Click Next to Preview the Merged Family record. You must specify a resolution for each record before the Next button will activate, allowing you to proceed with the resolution.

Preview Merged Family

After you have specified resolution options for duplicate family members, this screen shows you what the new Master family record will look like before you perform the irreversible Merge function. To proceed with the merge, complete the following steps.

Select Merge into Master Family.

Note the Warning the displays in red—the operation that you are about to perform is irreversible.

Choose either to Merge or Exclude:

To proceed with the Merge, click the Merge into Master Family. Go to step #4 below.

To exclude this family from the Merge (e.g., if you have determined that these families are not a true duplicate set) and continue to the next potential set of duplicate family/member records, click Exclude from Merge Process.

Click Next to merge duplicate records into the Master record and delete duplicates. The progress bar will run.

Click Next. If you are finished resolving duplicates, click Print Final to create a Merge Log Report (see page 18 for a sample report). If you have several sets of duplicate families in this session, click Next. The Duplicate Checker Wizard will display the next potential duplicate record set.